The Families of Character Show

Ep. #161: Choosing Quality Media for Your Kids with Tim Maschler

Jordan Langdon Season 2 Episode 30

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What happens when a successful Hollywood scriptwriter encounters Jesus Christ? For Tim Maschler, who wrote for iconic shows like Hawaii Five-0, Starsky and Hutch, and Magnum PI, it meant walking away from mainstream entertainment to pioneer something more meaningful.

We discuss:
• How Tim experienced a dramatic conversion to Christ while writing for mainstream TV
• How Tim and his wife, Melissa, began creating explicitly faith-based content after leaving Hollywood
• The Maschlers' current project "Me and Johnny Cash" is about a teen using Johnny Cash's Christian message to influence his school
• The importance of parents being "eternal gatekeepers" of their children's media, even content from faith-based studios requires parental evaluation
• Tim's collaboration with John Paul the Great Catholic University

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to the Families of Character show. Friends, I'm your host, jordan Langdon, and today we're tackling a topic that's really more important than ever what our kids are watching, reading and taking into their sweet little, innocent hearts. Joining me is someone who has seen both sides of the entertainment world producer, publisher and former Hollywood script writer, tim Mashler. Early in his career, tim wrote for hit TV shows you've probably heard of or even watched I know I have. Do you remember Hawaii Five-0, starsky and Hutch? Do you remember Hawaii Five-0, starsky and Hutch? Magnum PI man I love that show and Fantasy Island those are just a few of the shows that he's contributed to.

Speaker 1:

But after a powerful encounter with Jesus Christ, tim realized the direction of mainstream content and how it was spiraling downward, and he decided to step away from this glitz and glamour of Hollywood to create and really champion media that uplifts, inspires and honors truth, which we're all about here at the Families of Character show. So today Tim is here to share his fascinating journey from the bright lights of Hollywood to homesteading in good old Nebraska. He has started producing faith-filled stories that truly form character in the next generation. So, parents, if you've ever felt just overwhelmed trying to find good media, good movies, tv shows and books for your kids. You are not alone. I think Tim's story is really going to inspire you and empower you to be intentional gatekeepers for your family, and he'll give us some practical advice on how to seek out and support content that actually strengthens your kids' hearts, minds and faith. So stick around, you won't want to miss this inside. Look at how you can be a game changer in your child's media world. So welcome to the Families of Character show Tim.

Speaker 2:

Thank you very much and thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Tim, you spent years writing for some of the biggest television shows and then had this conversion to Christ and made this major shift in your life. So tell us a little bit, just to get started, what lit the fire in you to really step away from Hollywood and that mainstream entertainment and start creating and writing books and movies that are faith-filled, that families can enjoy.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, it didn't happen overnight, jordan, when I was writing all those shows, I was having a good time, the people that I that's the time that I came to Christ. I won't go into how that happened, but it happened dramatically. And the first thing that happened was there were four producers on that show and myself and we pretty much ran the show and we would be in nonstop meetings, you know, figuring out stories and figuring out what we were going to do, and, of course, there was a lot of language that came back and forth in those meetings that I was used to. You know, all of a sudden, I couldn't say those words anymore, you know, it was just, I mean literally physically, could not do that. Well, that confused them, but they put up with me, you know. So that was really the first thing.

Speaker 2:

Finally, when that show left, I tried for, oh, I'd say, several years, trying to kind of inject Christ into whatever shows that I was trying to either write or yeah, write or help produce. One of them was a gospel story, good News. It was a TV pilot for CBS and it had a strong Christian message. It was a black show with black actors and they were. This is back in the day. Now. They were hoping that it would be a counter to the Cosby show, which was a huge black show back in the day.

Speaker 2:

Anyway it didn't fly. So I kept, I kept trying to do that and finally my agent got really frustrated because there were things I was turning down that I used to do, you know, all the time, even though they were not bad. Shows, quote, unquote, when if they didn't have some kind of a good message for it, I would turn it down. So my message, my, my agent, as I said, you know she was happy to stick with me if I could. You know if I kind of compromise, but I wasn't willing to do that. So anyway, I moved away from that, took a job, I dusted off my MBA, took a job in central LA giving consulting to minorities in business, and while I was doing that, melissa, my bride, as you call her, my wife, started writing. Actually, she had been writing for years but she was writing, and so while I was still working at a day job, I would try to get those works out there, and they were all very much Christ-centered works. For example, learning by the Book, which is one of Melissa's books, takes all of the academic subjects and shows what happens when, if you take God out of language arts, let's say, or creative arts, what happens? It leaves a void and something has to replace that void, and we know, just by what's happened in education, what has been replacing it, whether it be public school, private school, wherever. If it isn't really God-centered, it's man-centered, and so that's what this book was all about. We self-published that book.

Speaker 2:

Melissa kept writing. She had a really strong pro-life script called Sign of Jonah, which had a very strong spiritual element to it not a preachy element, but a spiritual element and we almost got that produced. In those days I had a lot of good contacts coming out of my producing and writing career. Even though I wasn't writing the same shows anymore, I still had the contacts. So I tried to get that produced, talked to probably all the major pro-life ministries in the United States, went back to DC to march for life several times. Again, though, it was kind of hard to get over the hurdle of people saying, well, yes, we like it, but gee, it's awfully strong, so we weren't able to produce that. We're still out there trying to produce it.

Speaker 2:

The environment has improved a lot, honestly, jordan, from those days to this day. There's a lot more out there and a lot more that parents really have to be careful about. You know, just because I mean there's some really good studios that are out there now producing good content. But just because, let let's say, angel Studios, which is a great studio, they're doing good stuff for the Kendrick brothers or some other people, just because they are, they're the producers, parents can, can't, cannot, sit back and say, oh, I'll just let my children watch anything that's from Angel Studios, I just picked them.

Speaker 2:

You know, it could be any studio that is doing not necessarily Christ-centered work, because well, of course that's what we're hoping for, but if it's not that it at least has a good, strong family message to it. Yeah, that's, I don't know. You asked me about the story. Then we also, after we produced that book, learning by the Book, melissa was writing Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which is one of her novels which is about one of the greatest kings in biblical history, kind of historical fiction. Melissa woke up one day.

Speaker 1:

We were in Crawford, your old hometown, and she said you know, I think you know.

Speaker 2:

I think I have to finish this book in Ireland. She has Irish roots. Now the book doesn't have anything to do with Ireland or roots, but anyway I said well, okay, you know, let's take a look at that. Probably going to take a while to just sell the ranch. You know, we had a 400 acre ranch, probably five miles south of where your parents cabin is right now, and so we put it on the market and it sold in two weeks, and in two months we were in Ireland. I'd never been there before. So anyway, I mentioned that though because she finished her book, we published it, self-published it, put it up on Amazon.

Speaker 2:

But while we were there, jordan, living abroad was a great experience. When you're here in the United States, you kind of have one view of the United States, but when you're in Ireland or you're anywhere abroad, you get media from elsewhere. And so Melissa, as a result of that experience, started her novel Nowhere to Run, nowhere to Hide. Behold, I'm Coming Soon Again, another Christ-centered novel. So anyway, for various reasons, my son's wife died. We had to come back and help with his children. We did that for a while, but then, when my son kind of got himself together, we returned to Crawford. We've been back to Crawford now for five years and Melissa has continued writing, and one of the scripts that she's written is Me and Johnny Cash, which is our current script that we're now in the fundraising mode for.

Speaker 2:

But again you're asking about, you know, I think your focus here is what should parents do? And I think a lot of it is being engaged with what the options are out there, looking at them first and then asking yourself what is the message? You know everything that we watch, regardless of what it is, every video we see, every podcast we watch, whatever has a message you know, and so, in a way, you're teaching yourself how do I watch television or how do I watch a podcast, what is the message? So if you can kind of have that kind of foundation, then that foundation enables you to evaluate what the options are for their children. You know there are companies out there now that are producing animation which is a whole lot better than a lot of the junk that's out there now. Uh, that are produced. I just talked to somebody yesterday um, sycamore Studios that are. They're, they've just gotten in, they've just launched their studio, and so I'm talking to them about possibly doing Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, our, our book as an animated.

Speaker 2:

Animated film, because it's very, very. It isn't Christ-centered, it's an Old Testament project, but it's God-centered, you know, and it's what happens when you turn from God and what happens when you turn back to God. So anyway, getting back to the point is parents. I guess our first responsibility is to not only stay engaged but stay engaged from the very beginning, so you know what the options are. And then when you sit down with your children and watch something together, then you can talk about it. You can talk about how it relates to God, how it relates to the church you're going to, how it relates to what's going on at school, everything, and so you give your children that kind of foundation. Then they carry that into their own ecosystem, their own world and hopefully, as they mature, that stays with them and they can teach their children and their children's children. So that's.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I have to jump in and tell you a story. So just recently last weekend actually my kids and I were looking for a good quality show to watch and we pulled up a particular new movie that was just released on Netflix and I'm not even going to repeat the name because it's not worth watching because it was so bad and so wrong. It's not worth watching because it was so bad and so wrong, but my kids and I were really engaged. We're thinking this is the truth, this is yes, this is what our church teaches. Yep, this is good, this is great acting. And then, all of a sudden, there was this huge plot twist and you could tell right there, that's where kind of evil had entered the screenplay and twisted it, got it totally wrong, had entered the screenplay and twisted it, got it totally wrong. But if you continued watching it, you might really believe this line in the movie that distorted the truth. And so once I realized that, as I was watching it with the kids and the kids were even like they looked at me they're 10 and 13, and they look at me like is that right? That's not what we believe, and I said this is not right, this is way off and we're going to stop watching right now.

Speaker 1:

So then it drummed up a conversation with their dad. Later too, he said what were you watching and tell me about it? And the kids started talking about it, and it was beautiful to see how they recognize, because of their foundation of faith, that Hollywood got this one wrong, you know, and it was. It was, um, it was kind of disturbing to them at the same time, because they they want to believe what they see, you know, and and so to go, whoa, somebody could get that so wrong.

Speaker 1:

Yet everyone else who's watching it, who may not be of the same faith, would believe that and then make judgments upon our church like that. That really blew their mind. So I love your advice about how you know, parents, we are to be the gatekeepers of media that our kids consume and that if we can't, you know, preview it totally before our kids watch it or read it, it's really important that we at least sit with them, do a read aloud if it's a book, or watch it with them, so that we can catch these things and we can stop and have conversations with them. Definitely.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, and it even extends to schools that they may be in, whether they're Catholic schools or Christian schools or public schools. Public schools is pretty easy, because they're godless, you know they don't have basically public schools, don't have God anymore, and so they're on the wrong, totally wrong, foundation. But Melissa's movie, for example. She stayed. Melissa stays a good part of the year now in California taking care of our grandkids and, you know, maybe half the year she's there and so she has a really good feel of what's going on. There are two of them. One of them is in Catholic school and two of them are in a Christian school and, um, they all sound really good. You know, when you see on the internet what they're doing, they're, they're strong schools, but when you're really close to the kids you really find out what's going on in those schools and sometimes it's not godly and it's not Christ-centered, even though it has the Christian patina to it. And so ironically because that's true of the Christian school that the two girls are in 17 and 15, that gave rise to Melissa writing Me and Johnny Cash.

Speaker 2:

Because Me and Johnny Cash is a story of a 17 year old in school, very unhappy. He grew up as a homeschool kid and he knows that there's something wrong in that school, and so his dad challenges him. He said well, you know, can you just stand for Jesus Christ in all of your, all of your dealings with your teachers? And he's a. He's a Johnny Cash. He loves Johnny Cash's music. The boy does, and so his dad gives him a CD of Johnny Cash reading the old Testament, reading the new Testament, rather, and the boy uses that and Johnny Cash's music to start having an impact on his school. He does some, he writes up, puts up a poster of Johnny Cash with some of Johnny Cash's sayings on it, puts them up, or asks his teacher for teachers for permission to put them up. And some teachers say, yeah, go ahead, and they have, they love Johnny Cash.

Speaker 2:

And then you have teachers that don't want any part of that. They don't want any part. Well, johnny Cash is a drug addict, you know. And the boy says, well, yeah, but he visited prisons. He has a strong Christian message. He brought many people to Christ, anyway.

Speaker 2:

So that causes a real kind of a problem at the school because you've got some teachers that don't want any part of this, other teachers that are endorsing it, and the thing goes on and builds until the point where it turns out that the management of the school which is not true of the one, the true school that Melissa is at but you find out that there's corruption at the top, and so that's our story. My point of even mentioning all that is parents have got to be no matter what school you're in. You've got to really be paying attention to what do they read, even if you're homeschooling. That was ironic years ago, because we homeschool our children and we have a lot of friends that started homeschooling and Melissa would offer materials and so forth for them, and sometimes she found that even homeschoolers were introducing material that wasn't necessarily godly. So again, vigilance, eternal vigilance, is really the thing.

Speaker 2:

You have to be active and it's not an easy thing, but it's important because you know we're launching these children into life and hopefully they're going to be launched on the right foundation.

Speaker 1:

Yes, man, as you were talking about me and Johnny Cash, that movie and just the script. It's like you're a great storyteller and I can understand why the books do well and the films do well, because I'm like wait, but I want to know the rest of the story.

Speaker 1:

I'm just hanging over here on pins and needles like oh, what happens to this boy? And putting posters up of Johnny Cash and him having an impact on the conversion or reversion of faith for his teachers, you know, and it just inspires me because I think, as parents, we have to influence our children in ways that inspire them to evangelize others in a very natural way. And so when you're talking about me and Johnny Cash, a boy who goes whoa, there's some woke-ism and some strangeness going on here in my Christian school and I could be really mad about it and, just, you know, refuse to go here, skip school, whatever, but instead he finds a really clever way to connect with these people that is on their terms. Right, they have an interest in Johnny Cash, they like this music, and so then he uses that to help evangelize them and to really speak to them in their language.

Speaker 1:

And I think, as parents you know, so important for us to model that for our children that wherever we go to the grocery store, out shopping at Costco or just out and about in our community speaking to our neighbors, that our kids hear us speaking to people in the people's language. Right, the people's language right, Because you never bring people to Christ by beating them over the head with the Bible or by telling them this is what you should do, or this is what you ought to do, or you're an idiot if you don't believe, but instead it's just meeting people where they aren't. So I think that's. I don't know the whole script. You know for me and Johnny Cash, but that's the idea that I'm getting.

Speaker 2:

No, that's good. I'm glad you got that, because that's exactly right. Well, and what happens in the story, of course, is you know, johnny Cash's persona. He was the man in black and he one of his when he wrote one of the songs. Actually, that's in the movie is man in Black and he tells the story that I wear black for all those who have never heard or read the words Jesus said, and that's the poster that the boy puts up.

Speaker 2:

And, as this kind of mini war goes on at this school, there are some of the kids also are kind of against it because their parents have been pressuring them to do well, and so you want to play ball.

Speaker 2:

You want to play ball with everything that's happening at school, whereas some of the kids get it right away, and you have kids starting. More and more kids start wearing black over the period of this, and so that's the way you dramatize. My point, though, is and it's really good of what you said a minute ago, is that, um, in this particular situation with johnny cash, it's johnny cash giving the message. It's johnny cash, and his message is really solid christ centered. So it's not us, the movie, the filmmakers beating any beating people over the head, you know, with scripture, and yet, coming from Johnny Cash, everyone loves Johnny Cash, you know, and so, except for those teachers that we have, it's any way that you can present it that makes sense to a 15-year-old or a 10-year-old or a 17-year-old. We try to do that so that it's entertaining, okay, but still it has that solid message yes, yes, so is the full script written already?

Speaker 2:

Yes, oh yes, as a matter of fact, we're in collaboration. The script has been written. Melissa was just home. For matter of fact, we're in collaboration. The script has been written. Melissa was just home for a couple weeks ago and she did another rewrite and I worked with her to get it right and it's right now. We think we're very happy with it.

Speaker 2:

We're working in collaboration with John Paul, the Great Catholic University in San Diego, which is basically a film school. They do their own in-house films I call them student films but now they've been around for I think 12, 13 years and they're interested in getting outside projects. We would be the first outside project that they would help produce. And the advantage for us, of course, is that in going out to fundraise, which is the phase we're in right now, if people want to donate money or invest in the film, they can actually donate it to John Paul Catholic and get a tax write-off because it's a nonprofit. So for particularly Catholic investors, that's an advantage for us and also for the university. It's an advantage to, you know, getting out in the in the real world, not just the student, student film world, but also so they increases their increases, their profile and what we're doing and we hope to do, depending on how things work out, is that the students that are actually in the program right now.

Speaker 2:

There's many of them that are very talented, that have solid skills, whether they be, you know, working on a production crew, even acting, you know. They have acting classes, so we're hoping to utilize them. That would be a really a win-win because we would get some real new interesting phases involved with the movie and we can also we can use their facilities, their editing facilities, so it has a real good partnership to it. Now, always the problem with these situations is actually getting the money, because once you have the money like I'm, going out now and trying to enhance the project early on by getting known actors. For example, you may know the actor Dennis Quaid. We're trying to pursue Dennis for one of the roles, the dad in the thing you probably don't know, pat Boone. Do you know Pat Boone?

Speaker 1:

I don't, I'm really dating myself now.

Speaker 2:

Pat Boone was a very, very big star in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s. Strong Christian guy Was a singer. He was, I mean, if you go back in those days, I mean he had all the big hits. But he was also an actor and I knew Pat back in the day when I was in actually it was when I left show business business, but I was still trying to get things out. I went to Pat because I knew him and because I was trying to get Mel Gibson to read our pro-life script and Pat said, oh yeah, well, I've got his cell phone right here and he dials him up and and talks to him and he pitched it to him. Actually we didn't get it going with him, anyway. So we're trying, I'm trying to now.

Speaker 2:

Pat is 90 now and he is still pitching out there. I mean, the guy is an entrepreneur. He's still anything that I can do to promote Jesus Christ, that's his in my last days, that's what I'm going to do. So I'm trying to get to him. Unfortunately I kind of lost track of him, not contact with him over the years, but I've got a friend who's a friend who knows you know. So I'm trying to get back to Pat. So if I get Pat attached to it, that would help, you know, getting an investor. When I say okay, particularly investors, say, in my generation, that does know Pat, pat Boone and his profile, you know it's just an enhancement. So that's the process we're in right now trying to get well, like. The partnership with JP Catholic is great because that's the first thing. Johnny Cash is another real plus. Now, if I can get a couple of actors to not necessarily commit but commit when we get the money, then we'll be off and running. So that's where we are.

Speaker 1:

I just really appreciate what you're doing for us, for parents, for grandparents, for kids coming up Just to dedicate this last half of your life you and Melissa, your wife, to creating content that is faith-filled but also reachable to people who are living in the world but are of a faith background, and the efforts it takes.

Speaker 1:

It just floors me. It's fundraising, it's contacts, it's networking, it's being on podcasts, it's constantly being in email communication with people, it's touching back to your Hollywood roots in some senses to try to find people to help support these films. And so thank you for what you're doing. I mean, I would also ask you to help us understand better, just kind of the timeline or how this starts and then, when it hits the, the movie screen, you know what are all the phases, that that something has to go through. I think if parents are listening and they say, oh man, my kids are interested in acting, or I would love to inspire my children to use their talents for the good and, instead of running to Hollywood or to New York City, but to, you know, couple up with John Paul, the great Catholic University, or other great film studios who are producing, you know, christian stuff, what is kind of the process.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, it's just speaking first to what you were saying about parents, because there are parents out there that have really talented children and you know the glitz and the glam of Hollywood is out there.

Speaker 2:

You want to connect them hopefully to well, like John Paul the Great would be an example, but there's other, you know, universities and so forth, but a lot of it, you know, because this question comes up now with Christian filmmakers quite a bit, and really what many are saying is to not only be careful about where your, you know your children might go as far as a university or a film school or whatever, to make sure their foundation is right. But just, you know the process is so difficult, as you say. You know you start out I'll talk about that in a minute, I'll come back to that point is you start out and you have a script. The most important thing is having a script and you have a script. The most important thing is having a script, and so what many of the filmmakers now are saying to people is look for a really good script that you're really, really you know is right.

Speaker 2:

So that's and if you can be a content creator, that's even better. You know, let's say you have a young boy or girl who wants to be an actor, and yet they have some writing abilities, have them write a script that they know is right. You know. So it's the content, because content is king. It's all about what the content is. It isn't who makes it, it isn't who's in it, it isn't anything like that. It's what is the message.

Speaker 2:

So if you can encourage children to be aspiring actors or aspiring directors or aspiring producers, to be a content creator, that's a good way to go. Now, as far as the process is concerned, getting a good script is the absolute first thing you've got to have, but it's only the first step. A good producer friend of mine says you know all the trouble and all the hardship and the heartache that you go through writing a script. That's the easy part and it's hard to even believe that because it's really hard to get a really good script. Melissa can tell you, I can tell you, but anyway, so you got the really good script.

Speaker 2:

Then you have to find partners that, like we, found JP Catholic, because our project isn't a Catholic project and many of JP Catholic's work doesn't necessarily have a Catholic stamp to it. Are you still with me, jordan?

Speaker 1:

Okay, Everything changed on my screen, so I don't know what happened there, anyway, so I'll just keep going. Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, so you've got a good script. Then you try to enhance that script with talent, people that will be interested in maybe making it, and then it's just beating the bushes. It's getting out there talking to people Like right now I'm trying to find high net worth individuals, people that could invest in a film. Uh, and you know, if it went belly up, uh, you know it wouldn't matter. You know what I mean. I certainly don't want investors that are putting all their hopes and, you know, dreams in the film and it goes down and they go down. That isn't the idea. Trying to find people that that, uh, resonate with the message, uh, but that also can see that it's, it's, uh, you know, a good possible moneymaker. We think this is because, mainly because of Johnny Cash, you know Johnny Cash's music, johnny Cash's persona. There's so many people that love him that we're hoping that they'll see that. I mean, it's a worldwide, he's a worldwide phenomenon, you know he really is. So we're that's so.

Speaker 2:

So that's the fundraising phase and you get the money. Once you get the money, it's a lot easier to attract a director, attract good talent. You do that and then you know you're off and running. So you know it's pre-production, it's getting everything ready to go, your crews, and starting to promote, even promote ahead of when you're doing it, what you're doing, particularly now in social media and elsewhere.

Speaker 2:

You know you get the word out there and then you go into production and do the film and then after that, while you're doing all that, there's a big challenge of getting distribution, because if you make a film it's got to be distributed out there. So that's another big challenge. So I'll be going assuming we get the funds and we get going, we'll all be going out to the major film markets where sales agents and distributors go to. I'll be out there pitching for them. So that's the long process. Then once you get, you know, a distribution deal, you've got your, you've done your production, then it goes out and do a lot of praying and then do a lot of promotion and hopefully it's a success.

Speaker 1:

Praying and promotion. I love it.

Speaker 2:

You got to do the two together right.

Speaker 1:

Wow, what, what an arduous process. I mean it's just not easy. And it sounds like you and Melissa are kind of going at this on your own in some ways and gathering people as you can to help support the mission and the vision of this film. And just to, no one would do this unless they just had a great passion for changing mainstream media and having a greater impact on children and families when it comes to media. So whew, that is.

Speaker 2:

We're hoping for the first time because we, as far as our films are concerned, we've come close. Like I mentioned, sign of Jonah, the pro-life film it's still. I mean it's still. It's still there, I mean we're still out there. So when I'm out pitching me and Johnny Cash, I've always got my ears up to hear about if people are interested in possibly supporting our pro-life film and I'll go and talk to them about that.

Speaker 2:

Yesterday I was talking to this new studio, sycamore Studios, and it was a friend of my brother-in-law connected me with him, a fellow that's a creative director of the new studios, and it was just going to be kind of like a fundraising call, not necessarily to get fundraising but to hear his story of how they put together the studio and how they raise funds. But as we were talking it flashed into my mind. I said, oh wow, nebuchadnezzar could be Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Melissa's book could be a fantastic animated show. So I pitched it to him. So now I'm I'm writing up a one pager for him and, you know, hopefully we'll see that in an animated feature sometime. So you just got to be out there every possible way you can.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, and you're tuning in from Crawford, nebraska, folks. This is my hometown of 1200. He's out in the country, in the middle of the country, you know, right in the middle of smack dab in the middle of the country, you know, right in the middle of smack dab in the middle of the United States, writing, connecting with people. He and his wife, tim and Melissa, and all for our good. So thank you for all this effort that you're doing. If there are people that are listening that are like, wait, what pro-life movie? Yes, I want to support that. Or, you know, nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, I want to see that as an animated film. Or I want to support this me and Johnny Cash thing. I'm a Johnny Cash fan. How would someone get a hold of you, tim?

Speaker 2:

Me at tjmashler at gmailcom.

Speaker 2:

Also, I would encourage people to go to our website, not for me and Johnny Cash, but our website is Riordan Classics R-I-O-R-D-A-N Classics.

Speaker 2:

It's a company my wife launched here about three, four years ago and I'm kind of the you know, the promoter and the producer with her company and on the website it has a little bit about the movie, but it has a little bit about all of our projects, all the ones I've mentioned, and so people get it. It goes with all the things that we've been talking about today, because the idea behind Reardon Classics is, you know, people hear about, oh, you know, the Greek classics and all the quote classics, but what we believe is the true classics are the ones that where you see, god is at the root of all the projects, whether they're screenplays, whether they're videos, whether they're novels, whatever they are, and that's the foundation that we're trying to promote. So if anybody can come to the website my email is on there Be happy to talk to anybody. Even talk to anybody about what we've been talking about, whether it's nothing about fundraising, necessarily, but about their children or some of the books we've done, or whatever. Be happy to speak to them.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. Okay, parents, if you're listening to, take a note here it's riordanclassicscom. That's R-I-O-R-D-A-N classicscom. That's where you can find Tim and Melissa and all their projects, and if you're interested in helping, fund these so that we could see this in a movie theater someday. Wow, wouldn't that be cool to say. You were a part of that, producing that and making that dream come true, so that our kids could consume some good media and take their friends to the theaters for a good and true script. I think so. So thanks for joining us, tim, do you have any last words that you wanted to share with us?

Speaker 2:

Be engaged. Don't be discouraged, because there's a lot of things that are going on out there that are not, you know, have nothing to do with the kind of foundation we want to instill in our children. But stay engaged and it can have nothing but a great effect, not only on your kids, but in their children and beyond. So very important.

Speaker 1:

Yes, we always say here at Families of Character the top priority is our own relationship with God, our relationship with our spouse, and then our relationship with our kids, and then everything else comes after that. So I think that's what you agree with here. You've got your hat on under God. We, the people, and so I think we're on the same mission and have the same vision for family lives and building really kids of good character through all kinds of different avenues, and media being one of those. So thanks for joining us, tim, and I hope that we can see this film in the movie theaters someday soon Me too.

Speaker 2:

Thank you very much for having me. It's a real pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Yes, parents, stay tuned for more episodes with great guests like Tim. We're going to continue to bring you experts in their field and content that really resonates with you and topics that are relevant for what you're going through in the trenches of raising faith-filled kids in this kind of counter-cultural world that we're living in. So stay tuned and we'll catch you on another episode of our show real soon, god bless.

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